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Samantha has been so excited to start ballet class this fall. We have been talking about it for a few weeks since we registered. She got some ballet shoes and tap shoes at the dance store. We’ve tried on several leotards to make sure they fit. The first class was upon us.

Samantha took a great nap after her rough night. (See a previous post.) She knows that on the days that she takes a nap, we celebrate by doing something fun. She can play on her computer, watch TV, or even go to the park. So, she woke up and with no prompting from me, wanted to go to the park. I asked her if she wanted to go to ballet. She screamed “NO! Go to Park!” Uh oh.

Now, if she were not feeling well and wanted to be a couch potato that night, I would have been cool with that. She was sick and hadn’t sleep well the night before. It was the first class -- what could we miss? However, since she was so insistent on going to the park, I knew she didn’t feel all that bad.

After hurriedly eating and grabbing all of her ballet gear, we headed out the door. She told me that I was going the wrong way. “Park! This way!” pointing in the opposite direction. Naturally, we were late and the rush hour traffic didn’t help us get there in time. Once she saw the building, she got very excited and knew that it was time for ballet.

I changed her in the dressing room (what a big girl with all the older girls) and got her into her classroom. That little room full of toddlers was adorable and hilarious! It’s a 3 and 4 year old class, so I knew she’d be the youngest. She followed directions very well. I think she had lots of fun!

And here are 2 videos. The first one is about a minute, and the second one is about 2 minutes. We are behind glass, so you can’t hear inside, but you can hear me laughing.

On the way home, I asked Samantha which shoes she liked better: the pink (ballet) or the white (tap). White. Naturally.

Now we just have to work on her to wear a ponytail!

After a rough day at the babysitter’s house, she told me that Samantha was exhausted and surely she’d take a good nap. Sam certainly looked it, so I hoped for the best. One thing after another, she didn’t go to sleep until 4PM. Normally, I don’t keep her in the bed that long, but each time I checked on her, she seemed SO close to falling asleep. Needless to say, she didn’t go to bed until about 8:15PM. Here begins my night.

8:52PM – I just checked on Samantha and that little turkey is still awake. I go back to our bedroom where Brian and I are talking about how to handle Ellie during the night. She’s still not sleeping great. We have been taking turns at each outburst, but after 3 or 4 of those during the night, it’s hard to remember whose turn it is. I was proposing for each of us to take a night. For example, one night, I am responsible for all outbursts so Brian can sleep. The next night, it’s his turn so I can sleep. We didn’t really come to a resolution. I lay down on the bed, which means: game over, I fall asleep.

11:01PM – Brian wakes me up to feed Ellie.

11:38PM – Go back to bed.

1:15AM – I hear Samantha crying. She woke up crying last night too. That never happens. Last night, she must have had a bad dream about a boat. Random. I get up and walk into her room. She tells me, amid the crying, that she needs a napkin to wipe her ear. Um. What? I get a Kleenex and ask her which ear. Sure enough, there’s a nasty goop all over her left ear, face, hair and pillow. Great. An ear infection. (Here’s the original discovery that goop could come out of her ear. Beware, it’s gross.) She had a cold a few weeks ago. She got over it in about a week, so I thought we were in the clear. Oh well. I make a note to call the doctor. I ask her if her ear hurts and she says yes. I ask her if she wants some medicine and she says yes. I give her some Motrin. I tell her we’ll call the doctor in the morning.

1:30AM – Go back to bed.

3:30AM – There’s a raucous on my nightstand. What is it? Is Samantha standing by my bed messing with my nightstand? I’m confused. Molly. Molly is trying to eat my lavender lotion. “Stop. Molly. Stop.” I say as I’m hitting her rear end. She stops only momentarily. I grab her by the collar and pull her off my nightstand. Fall back to sleep.

4:08AM – What. In. The. Name. Of all that is holy. “Molly. Stop.” She’s trying to eat my bottle of lotion again. I grab her and throw her out of the room and close the door. Go back to bed.

4:33AM – “Mreow.” Oh for crying out loud. “Mreow.” Maddie. “Mreow.” She’s standing on the floor just beneath my nightstand. “Mreow.” She is staring up at me. “Mreow.” She wants to be near her beloved Molly. “Mreow.” She is persistent. “Mreow.” I get up, open the bedroom door and wait for her to bolt out. Mostly close the door. Go back to bed.

4:35AM – The air conditioner kicks on. The bedroom door slams closed.

5:13AM – Ellie wakes up. Normally, I would be happy if she slept till after 5. Brian gets up. I don’t hear her in the monitor any more.

5:15AM – Brian yells at me from the front of the house. “Jane! I need some help!” Doesn’t he know that he’s going to wake up Samantha if he yells like that? I get out of bed. I nearly walk into Sam in the hallway. She is standing with nothing on but a shirt. Ellie starts to cry. Brian is stripping Samantha’s bed. He says “Pick one.” I go into Ellie’s room and give her a paci. She falls right back to sleep. On a normal night, that never happens. I come back out and help Sam get to the potty. We sit for a while in the bathroom. She says she needs to go, but nothing happens. After Brian finishes with her bed, I put another diaper and new PJs on her. I get her back in bed and tell her to go back to sleep.

5:30AM – Go back to my bedroom. I ask Brian what happened. Apparently, after quieting Ellie, he heard some strange noises in Sam’s room. He went in and she was sitting up in bed. He told her to lay down. She said she couldn’t because her popsicles were wet (her PJs have popsicles on them). Sure enough, she and all her bedding were wet.

6AM – Ellie wakes up. Brian gives her a paci and comes back to bed. She continues to squawk. It’s not really a cry, but it usually means she’s tired or cold.

6:30AM – Alarm goes off. Like I need it. I’ve been awake since 3:30.

The end.

Samantha was washing her hands yesterday with her Funny Berry soap. She told me that her hands “smell like delicious.”

And just because I like this picture:

We are very blessed. We had the choice of 3 gowns for Ellie’s baptism.

We have the gown that me and my siblings were baptized in. It has also been used for some Burns grandkids, including Samantha as shown below.

The slip has been embroidered with each baptism name and date. It begins with Elisabeth Noel in 1976 and ends with Patrick Jacob in 2008.

We have the gown that Brian and his siblings were baptized in. This was the gown that Ellie was baptized in. Here is a letter dated on Brian’s BIRTHday from his maternal grandparents.

Isn’t that a lovely letter? And here’s Ellie in the gown:

We have the gown that Brian’s maternal grandfather (Leonard in the above letter) was baptized in. Brian’s great-grandmother, Agnes Eckl, made the gown. His grandfather was the youngest of 5 children, so I’m not exactly sure of the gown’s age. It’s at least 83 years old.

Aunt Lizzie gave Samantha a Mr. Potato Head family for her birthday last year.  She really likes it.  Lately, when she’s finished dressing them up, she’ll line them all up and tell me to take a picture.  Each one has a name (Mommy, Daddy, Sam and Ellie).  We went to the McWane Science Center recently where they had a Mr. Potato Head exhibit.  With all the Toy Story 3 stuff, Mr. Potato Head seems everywhere.  Here are some of her creations.

(I helped with the Mommy one in the above picture, but all the others she did by herself.)